Union launches push to increase youth pay

Employer groups warn a rise in youth wages will cause them to lay off young staff.

Getty Images: Andreas Rentz, file photo

Australia's retail union is heading for a clash with industry over a push to increase the pay for workers under 21.

Currently many employees on minimum wages will only receive full pay when they turn 21, something that unions say is unfair.

The union will launch a campaign today in Canberra, calling on the Government to support its claim at the Fair Work Commission.

Luke Coleman is an 18-year-old fast-food industry worker. He says he says old enough to fight for the country and vote in elections so he should be paid as much as an adult.

"I've got the same costs as anyone else but I don't make the same, which is really not fair considering I can do just as much, if not more than them," he argued.

At the moment, a permanent full-time 18-year-old retail worker is paid about $5 less per hour than someone who is 21.

"I don't get a discount on fuel, or even moving out for rent, or for my uni fees, so why should I have discount work?" he asked rhetorically.

The retail union says it is time things changed, and has made its detailed case to the Fair Work Commission.

"A young person can start in retail at say 15 years of age. They're on 45 per cent of the adult rate," said the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees (SDA) union's national secretary, Joe de Bruyn.

"Then when they're 16 they go to 50 per cent, and thereafter they go to 60 per cent, 70 per cent, 80 per cent and so on, and at 21 they finally get to the adult rate."

The SDA is also lobbying the Federal Government to support his union's claims.

"If you go into a retail store and see young people working on registers side by side with older people you can see they're doing exactly the same work, and the principle of equal pay for equal work should be applied to young people," Mr de Bruyn added.

Industry opposition

However, the retail industry is pushing back strongly, warning that a rise in wages for young workers would see many of them out of a job.

"Retailers will start to look at how they can reduce their costs," cautioned the executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, Russell Zimmerman.

He says industry is preparing to lodge its application arguing against pay increases for younger people in the next few weeks.

"[Retailers] will look at technology to eliminate the number of employees that they have," Mr Zimmerman said.

"They will obviously not employ young people, but they would look to people in the retail industry who already have the experience so they don't have to spend that money on training them when they have to pay them senior wages."

The union is staggering its claims to the Fair Work Commission, starting with asking to have the rate for 20 year olds lifted, then increasing pay for 18 and 19 year olds in the future.

The claims also come as the union movement is pushing for a $30 a week rise in the minimum wage.

With a federal election in September and the Government doing badly in the polls, Russell Zimmerman says the union is trying to get as many claims through as it can.

"It is probably fair to say that the unions may be concerned that the Government may not get returned and that they are making these pushes through now, prior to the election," he added.

AM sought comment from the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Bill Shorten. His office said Mr Shorten is in China and did not provide a response.